TRACK TALK: Plenty of racing action over Memorial Day weekend

The Memorial Day weekend traditionally offers lots of racing action at New England tracks. Seekonk Speedway will offer a four-division stock car program tonight at 6 and comes back on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Lou ModestinoEnterprise Correspondent

The Memorial Day weekend traditionally offers lots of racing action at New England tracks. Seekonk Speedway will offer a four-division stock car program tonight at 6 and comes back on Sunday at 5 p.m. with a Thrill Show. Sunday night will also offer some stock car action. Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut has a NASCAR program tonight and a Demo Derby Sunday at 5 p.m., topped off with fireworks.

Lime Rock Park in Connecticut opened it’s season on Friday and continues today and Sunday, offering the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (two races today), the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup U.S.A. by Yokohama (two races today), and the third Vintage Sports Car Club of America weekend. Also on today’s card is an Electric Vehicle Sports Racer demo races. On Sunday it’s the Sunday Royals Garage Car Show. The 1.7-mile road course will open at 9 a.m. each day.

At the Quoboag Riders Club in Monson it’s 4x4 Hillclimb action for the pick-up trucks at 11 a.m. Sunday. New England Dragway in Epping, N.H., plans ET drag racing action all day today and Sunday starting a 8 a.m. each day.

Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire hosts a big Monster Truck meet today and Sunday. The Granite State Pro Stocks Series is added to tonight’s NASCAR program at the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H., with a 6 p.m. post time.

Also in southern New Hampshire, Hudson Speedway has an afternoon program of stock cars starting at 1 p.m. on Monday.

Tonight there’s the Cliquot Cruise at Gold’s Gym on Route 109 in Millis and another cruise is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. at Sam’s Club on Route 6 in Seekonk. Granted all this Memorial Day weekend motor head action is contingent on the weather. Lately we’ve seen some sunny days followed by showers. That’s a lot better than a Nor’easter that was predicted earlier in the week. The New England weather, this time of year, is always difficult to forecast.

The national TV racing action will also be busy with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina on Sunday afternoon and into Sunday night, respectfully. ABC and Fox will air those events live.

Thompson Speedway also has a special events only schedule this year due to the expansion and the new 1.7-mile road course that will host several events on that track. Those include several SCCA events as well as many racing days set aside for its new motor sports country club.

Thompson Speedway will also be hosting it’s first Valenti Modified Racing Series event next Thursday night, May 29. As of May 22, that track claims to have 34 confirmed entries, including Canton’s Richard Savary and Easton’s Rob Ricardi Jr.

There could be competition in the future for Thompson Motorsports Park in nearby Palmer, Mass., because there’s another new road course that has not opened yet. We’ve heard that it is still not paved at this time. From the reports we’ve seen and heard, the owners of that venue have been holding discussions with several racing sanction bodies about hosting various events there. More than likely they will include motorcycle events if and when it opens.

Ray Parent of Tiverton, R.I., left the Seekonk Late Model and Pro Stock action a few years ago to focus his racing efforts with the American Canadian Tour. Since then he’s looked very impressive and won the big ACT Invitational race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. back in 2010. Recently he emerged with another ACT win at the Airborne Speedway at the Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY. Parent claimed the $1,000 first-place prize offered by Bond Auto Parts

That New York race was also an NHMS Invitational qualifier and now Parent will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, again, on Saturday, September 20. The American Canadian Tour has several weeks off before heading to Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH for their fourth event of the season on Saturday, June 7. Riverside is owned by Scituate’s C.J. Robinson.

Next Sunday, June 1 is the 10th Annual Norwood Arena/New England Dragway South Reunions. It’s been held at Bezema Motors on Rt. 1 in Norwood. We understand that this year’s event is going to be special with lots of new features. It’s set to go rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hopefully it will be a nice clear day for everyone involved.